Treasure Hunting

It’s truly the gift that keeps on giving.

A week after receiving a metal detector for his seventh birthday, Lucas Hall’s gift is already paying dividends for the first-grader.

While metal detecting with his father, Gary, on private property outside Berryville, Lucas had a feeling the two needed to stop and look.

His hunch paid off.

Buried six inches deep was a sword thought to have been used during the Civil War.

“We stopped on the four-wheelers and Lucas said ‘right here,”

Gary recounted Monday.

“So we started digging, and not a minute later, there it was.”

“I was excited,”

Lucas said.

But the pair was still unsure of their finding until they started digging deeper.

“We originally thought it was an old fence post,”

Gary said.

“I started pulling it out of the ground, and when I saw the handle I went ‘Oh my gosh.”‘

Lucas’s passion for metal detecting skyrocketed, his mother, Tina, said, after their neighbor gave him a few Civil War-era bullets he found while metal detecting on his property.

Lucas also likes the Science Channel show “Meteorite Men” - a program about two men who look for meteorite pieces with metal detectors.

“(The neighbor) gave me a lot of bullets,” Lucas said. “I like digging for them.”

“Lucas really likes the pursuit,” his mother said.

The family is still unsure what kind of care is needed to preserve their discovery, which has been sitting on a towel in their living room since it was found.

“That’s the biggest thing right now, just touching it makes it disintegrate, and I want to preserve this for him,” Gary said. “We haven’t had it to an expert yet because we aren’t sure who to take it to.”

Gary Crawford, president of the Kernstown Battlefield Association, examined a picture of the sword.

He believes it is a light cavalry sabre model 1840 or 1860, but said it’s too difficult based on its condition to determine where the sabre was manufactured or which side used it.

The handle design, Crawford said, helps narrow down the time period of manufacturing.

“There is really no way of knowing (which side used it) because many of these sabres were manufactured in the North before the war and stocked in southern armories,” he said. “When the war started, the South just took those weapons and passed them out to their troops.”

Crawford said that about 18 inches of the blade may be missing.

“It may still be in the ground,” Crawford said, “or it may have been broken and thrown away - that wouldn’t have been uncommon.”

Regardless of any monetary worth the sabre might possess, the family isn’t interested in selling the relic, Gary said.

“This is really just fun for him, and I want to keep it that way,” he said. “Lucas doesn’t have a concept of the Civil War, he just knows what we tell him. But when he gets older, I want him to look back on this and appreciate it.”

Tina said the sabre, and other findings, will be incorporated into home-schooling lessons for Lucas and his 9-year-old sister, Samantha.

Lucas has also found several Civil War rifle-musket and minie ball bullets.

“Now we can teach a unit on the Civil War,” she said. “When they dig something up, we can try and learn about it.”

Now that this boy has inspired you to go out and start your own adventure, make sure to visit Kellyco to find the perfect detector for you and maybe you too will be able to share a story about your amazing finds.

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A three-year old boy playing with his grandad’s metal detector struck gold when he found treasure worth an estimated £2.5million - a 500-year-old gold locket.

James Hyatt struck gold when he unearthed the 16th century artifact in a field on his very first outing using a metal detector.

Experts believe it is one of only four of its kind in Britain and could have belonged to royalty.

James’s dad Jason said:

‘He was so excited when he realized he had found real treasure.’

‘He is one of the luckiest people ever. He’ll put his hand down the sofa and pull out a tenner.’

James, who lives in Billericay, Essex, was out walking with his grandad and dad in nearby Hockley when he asked if he could use the detector.

The boy, who has now turned four, said:

‘It went beep, beep, beep. Then we dug into the mud. There was gold there. We didn’t have a map. Only pirates use treasure maps.’

The 2.5cm pendant has a picture engraved on the front of the Virgin Mary clutching a cross and five bleeding hearts on the back.

Its sides carry the names of the three kings who visited Christ after his birth. It has been officially declared treasure and will be offered for sale to the British Museum and other institutions.

A similar artifact was bought for £2.5million by York museum.

The proceeds will be split between the unnamed landowner and James’s family.

This find was made with an Fisher F75. The Fisher F75 as well as many other top-of-the-line detectors are readily available at Kellyco. If you felt inspired by this story and would like start your own search for treasure, make sure to visit Kellyco to find the perfect detector to suit your needs.

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WINDSOR, UK: A metal detecting enthusiast has had one of his finds – a 3,000-year-old gold necklace – classified as treasure after an investigation by a coroner.

Crown Wood treasure hunter David Conway was hunting near a gravel extraction site in the Windsor area on Sunday, December 6, last year, when his metal detector picked up a strong signal. He had previously found a small golden ring on the site and asked the landowner to let him search again.

The latest find was a gold Bronze Age torc – a kind of necklace – of which the first ring he found was part.

Under the Treasure Act 1996, a coroner has to establish that a find is more than 300 years old and has a gold or silver content of more than 10 per cent. Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford held a treasure trove inquest in Newbury on Wednesday, August 4.

During the hearing Mr Bedford said the torc was authenticated by Gillian Vandell at the British Museum who dated it back to between 1300 and 1100BC – more than 3,000 years old. She also said it is 83 per cent gold and 15 per cent silver.

During the hearing David explained that he nearly did not make the find because the landowner did not want him to search on the land.

David told Mr Bedford: “He turned me down at first, but I kept asking.”

Mr Bedford classified the find as treasure meaning it will be valued and offered for sale to an appropriate museum.

If a museum does not want to buy it, the item can be sold privately.

Ownership is usually negotiated between the landowner and the finder.

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Boston, Massachusetts: In Blackbeard’s day, “coin collecting’’ meant swashbuckling, flying a Jolly Roger flag, and making rivals walk the plank at sword point. Today, it is a little tamer.

A new breed of collectors filled Boston’s Hynes Veterans Convention Center yesterday, traveling from table to table instead of sea to sea. But what they are searching for has not changed at all: treasure. “The fun is in the hunt,’’ said Andy Lustig, 49, a vendor from Nyack, N.Y.

Hundreds of people from across the country came to the World’s Fair of Money to find that something special. For some, that meant unusual coins.

For others, the historical artifacts on display were the true find.Still others sought precious metals they said are more reliable investments than the stock market.

“At first, I couldn’t wrap my head around spending money for money,’’ said Raquel McAninch, 33, a vendor with Colonial Trading Co. of Boston. “But then you come to these things, and you see all these characters, and you realize there really is something here for everyone. They all have their reasons.’’

More than 1,000 vendors set up stands to buy, sell, and trade coins with convention-goers. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History displayed rarely seen gold pieces, and the US Department of the Treasury set up an exhibit featuring an engraver, the design for the new $100 bill, and the largest US note ever printed — the $100,000 bill.

For longtime collectors, such as Sandy Gulde, who traveled from Scottsdale, Ariz., to help run a convention booth, it is the most thrilling event of the year.

“Every day, something is different; it’s so exciting,’’ she said. “From this side of the table, it’s great to be able to hook up a coin with a collector and watch them fall in love.’’

Many vendors selling currency base their merchandise value on various factors: the rarity of a piece, the metal it is made of, condition, and age, among others. Most are happy to talk about their merchandise and answer questions from inquisitive passersby. Some convention-goers, like Michael Moloney, 71, from Miami, like to shop around, chatting with vendors and examining the loot before buying anything.

“When people find something unusual, they just know it; and they want to hold onto what they’ve found,’’ said Moloney, who wears a button saying “I [heart] errors,’’ showing his affection for coins minted with mistakes or imperfections. Others at the show were all business.

“People want to dump their money into something that’s not the stock market these days, so they dump it in gold instead,’’ said Rich Moyer, a coin dealer from Hagerstown, Md., who hardly looked up from the piles of coins he and his son, Mike, were sifting through.

“We check the coin info against the wholesale price sheet and figure out if we can make any money on it,’’ Moyer said. “It’s a family business.’’

For many treasure-hunters, enjoyment comes down to what they walk away with.

“I like this place because there are so many cool coins and stuff,’’ said Lana Taffel, 7, of Belmont. “If you just walk around for a while, you can find what you were looking for all along. It’s like treasure!’’ The convention runs through Saturday. Donn Pearlmann, spokesman for the American Numismatic Association, the World’s Fair of Money sponsor, said up to 15,000 visitors were expected to attend this week.

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Sebastan: Dozens of gold and silver coins hidden nearly 300 years ago were found Friday when a cannon recovered July 11 from a wrecked Spanish ship was being cleaned for preservation, salvagers reported this week.

Divers from the salvage boat “Gold Hound” brought up the ship’s bronze swivel cannon, a rare find in itself, in less than 20 feet of water between Wabasso and Vero Beach, said Anne Kazel-Wilcox, a spokeswoman for 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels, a private salvage company based in Sebastian and Jupiter.

A historic bronze cannon found near Sebastian contained gold and silver coins concealed inside, treasure on its way back to Spain before the shipwreck

The heavily-encrusted cannon was taken to the Mel Fisher’s Treasures facility in Sebastian for preservation, Kazel-Wilcox said, “and as workers were conserving it, the cannon became unplugged and coins were found inside.”

In addition to 22 gold coins found near the cannon, 25 gold coins and 63 silver coins were found inside, worth an estimated $500,000 or more.

“This is an amazing historic find,” Greg Bounds of Fellsmere, captain of the Gold Hound, said in a prepared statement. “We found treasure within the treasure. This is right out of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ except this is the real thing. For centuries there has been talk of treasure possibly hidden inside of cannons, but up until today that was only pirate lore. Now it’s the real deal.”

The wreck was part of a fleet of 11 galleons and war ships laden with gold bars, coins, diamonds, emeralds and pearls bound from Havana for King Philip V of Spain. The cargo included the so-called “Queen’s Jewels,” a 74-carat emerald, pearls and diamonds meant for Philip’s new bride Elisabeth, who reportedly said she wouldn’t consummate the marriage until she received them.

The ships sank in a hurricane off the Treasure Coast on July 31, 1715. Last month, 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels, a private salvage company, acquired salvage rights to the fleet from the heirs of treasure hunter Mel Fisher, whose family had retained the fleet’s U.S. Admiralty Custodianship of a 300-square-mile stake off Indian River County that extends from the low-tide mark into the ocean. Together with subcontractors such as Bounds, they are searching for a mother lode estimated to be worth $900 million.

By law, the state gets 20 percent of the haul and gets to pick the pieces it wants first. The rest is split 50-50 between 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels and the subcontractors who found it.

Bounds, one of about 15 subcontractors who have worked with Mel Fisher Treasure and continue to work with 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels, uncovered more than $12.9 million worth of gold chains, pearls, coins, swords and other artifacts in 2007 from the 400-year-old Santa Margarita site in the Florida Keys.

This article was found from a news blog site the Coin Docere.

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More and more gold coins seem to be found by prospectors all around the world. Citing from the Times of India Article, 744 antique gold coins found near Sathy jungles.

Coimbatore, India: A treasure trove was unearthed in a remote hamlet near Sathyamangalam jungles when local tribals stumbled upon a centuries-old earthen pot filled with gold coins.

As many as 744 coins, weighing about 300 grams, were found in the pot, sending the tranquil tribal hamlet of Kottamalam in Erode district into a tizzy on Saturday. The coins are believed to date back to the Vijayanagar Empire period and may be over 500 years old.

For the family of Maadhi Veerayya, a tribal widow in Kottamalam, it was almost a dream tryst with fortune. On Friday morning, Maadhi and her granddaughters were clearing the thorny bushes near their house at Kottamalam.

Suddenly, her granddaughters Vinitha and Nagamma, noticed broken shards of an earthen pot in the bushes. When they rummaged deeper, they found coins smaller than 25 paise coins. Immediately, they called their grandmother, who dug deeper and found more coins. As they tried to quietly stash away the coins, curious neighbours gathered. And a frantic treasure hunt began. By afternoon, nine tribal families in the village collected over 700 coins and hid in their houses.

However, the village administrative officer got wind of the treasure trove and rushed to the spot. It was not long before the police too landed up, and launched a drive to recover the coins. “We have so far recovered 744 coins,” tahsildar K Shanmugham told TOI. The police are probing if more coins have been stealthily hidden away.

The coins are made of 18 carat gold and said to have been in circulation during the rule of the Vijayanagar kingdom between 14th and 16th centuries. The coins have an image of a tiger on a fluttering flag on one side and on the flip side, a picture of a mangalasutra’.

“It is said these coins may belong to the pre-Krishnadevaraya period, perhaps during the reign of his immediate predecessor Veeranarasimha Raya,” a revenue official said.

The coins have been handed over to the Erode district collector, R Sudalaimuthu. Curators from the government museum in Erode will examine the coins and present a report to the government.

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Indian River County, FL – More treasure has been found from the 18th century Spanish fleet that sank in hundreds of years ago. The boat crew working with the Queens jewels of Jupiter Island found 22 gold Spanish coins and a small cannon from 300 years ago between Wabasso and Vero Beach. These coins are said to be worth $8,000 adding up to $176,000 for all 22 coins, said Brent Brisben, co-founder of Queen’s Jewels.

“It’s called the Treasure Coast for a reason,” Brisben said. “It was a sight to see these guys so excited. It’s one of the best days you can have.”

Queen’s Jewels have teamed with Capt. Greg Bounds of Fellsmere to explore the wreckage area of an 18th century Spanish fleet. Brisben’s company acquired the salvage rights to the sunken ships from the heirs of world-famous treasure hunter Mel Fisher. They have been named federal custodians to the 300-mile wreckage area, he said.





As said before on this blog, this treasure is from a wreck in 1715 when a 11-ship fleet set sail from Cuba laden with gold bars, coins, diamonds, emeralds and pearls bound for King Philip V of Spain. The bounty included the dowry for Phillip’s new bride, Elisabeth, who refused to consummate their marriage until she received it.

There is plenty more to be found, and these treasure hunters hope to retrieve most of it. This news story is in reference to the TCPalm article.

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ISRAEL– Dr. Rami Arav was very excited when his one of his researchers from West Virginia University student Alexis Whitley uncovered a rare gold coin during excavation work in the city of Bethsaida, near the Sea of Galilee in Israel.

Rami Arav is the director of excavation and research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Bethsaida Excavations Project, a 24-year effort to reveal the archaeological mysteries of the biblical-era city.

The coin, which weighs 7 grams, is 97.6% gold. However, the find was unexpected because Bethsaida primarily was home to humble fishermen. Arav also said somebody must have been doing good business a little over 100 years after the birth of Christ.

The gold coin, about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, carries the image of Antoninus Pius, the 15th Roman emperor, who reigned between A.D. 138 and 161.

“Before newspapers, coins fulfilled the job of disseminating information. In our case, Antoninus wanted to announce that the Senate designated him to the position of a consul for the second time. This position was among the highest at Rome.” said Arav.

The Bethsaida coin is the first Antoninus Pius gold coin excavated in Israel, and as far as he knows, it’s the first discovery of this particular kind of coin.

Archaeologists have found many other coins announcing the news of Antoninus Pius’s appointment, but none bears the same picture on the reverse side, where the goddess Pietas stands before an altar.
It is hard to put a monetary value on the coin, Arav said.

“This type of a coin was never sold in the market because it is so rare,” he said. “It may go for as much as people will be able to pay for it.” Dr. Rami Arav stated.

For now, the coin, along with the rest of the Bethsaida finds, considered to be the heritage of the State of Israel — will go to the Israel Antiquities Authority. Its ultimate destination probably will be the Israel Museum in Jerusalem along with many other outstanding finds.

This story is in reference to a article from the Omaha World Herald.

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New from North Treasure Coast, FL - Members of the Treasure Coast Archeological Society, a club of Metal Detectorist gathered to join in treasure hunting on a local beach in Florida. Their goal is to find relics and treasure of value.

As the economy has slumped it has led more people into the hobby or even job of Metal Detecting. Since the price of valuable metals such as gold and silver continue to rise, this brings motivation to the hurting economy. Treasure hunters like these usually look for lost coins, jewelry, and other valuables such as gold and silver to bring in much needed extra money.

“More people are coming out to hunt with this economy, people see that it’s easier to find something with a metal detector than it is to win the lottery,” said Vencecia Altimus, who travels to Indian River County to hunt.

Metal detectors are sold from just one hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. However, basic detectors send signals of treasure with a beeping noise barely compare to the high end detector that displays image of treasure and item depth. Many detectorist testify that the machines usually pay for themselves, with rewards sometimes in the thousands.

As these Metal Detectorist are not always welcome, it is not prohibited in Florida to metal detect along the beaches. Although these rules do not apply everywhere. It is against park & recreation rules to dig up large holes. Although detecting is allowed one must keep the ground intact which defeats the purpose of detecting.

Seems as though one should play it safe and not risk getting in trouble with the state… Good luck hunting treasure hunters!

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Nevada City, CA - Permits have been sought after with this new amazing discovery that led the San Fransisco business man, Jim Sanders into new wealth. Over 160 years has passed since the California Gold Rush, after one evening of metal detecting in his family-owned property, he found a 9 pound gold nugget then following with an 8oz nugget and 10oz.

Nine pound Gold Nugget found in Nevada City, CA

Gold nuggets usually are reported to come in smaller sizes, and since the Gold Rush this is a very large discovery. Sanders believes there is more where that came from after surveying the land.

Local jeweler Terry Mohr hadn’t seen the nugget, but was impressed nonetheless at the reported size, which he said would make it worth well over $100,000.

“I’ve been doing gold nugget jewelry for over 30 years and I don’t know as I’ve heard of a nugget that size being found in this area in all the time I’ve been involved,” Mohr said.

Looks like if you live near Nevada City, CA you should consider getting your serious Metal Detecting Gear on and head outside to see if you get lucky! Good luck and Happy Hunting

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